Page 50 of To Vanquish Darkness

Theo poured himself a drink. "Some secrets are so dangerous, they’re hidden even from ourselves."

His words swirled around her head like warmed fat on a skillet. Secrets? He had the audacity to bring up secrets? “If you didn’t kill her, why were you there?” Amalie snapped.

The pit inside her grew wider. Every second she felt torn between her desire to help her friends, to protect those she loved, and her hunger for the truth about her mother’s death. With everything Theo told her, both objectives seemed to knit into one.

Whoever killed her mother knew of the guardians. Finding the sword would allow her to take revenge and protect her family, but only if she knew who it was.

If she could find them. If she could discover the sword. If the sword worked as Theo expected.

It was too many ‘ifs.’

Theo didn’t ask her to clarify. “I told you, I don’t know.”

“Was it someone here?” She rounded the bed, scrutinizing his face.

“No. I don’t believe so. I?—”

“You knew her last name,mylast name. You admitted you’ve been following my line. How could you not know?”

“Amalie—”

“Why did you choose me instead of her? Why couldn’t my mother have found the relic for you? Or—” A thought struck her like a battering ram. “Did she try? Did you ask her to do this for you, and—” Amalie clapped a hand to her mouth. Had her mother been hunting for the sword and someone had killed her for it?

“Stop. I didn’t ask her.”

She glared at Theo through the tears welling in her eyes. “Why not? Her ancestors are the same as mine.”

Theo growled in frustration. “I understand you want answers, but there are forces beyond my control?—”

Amalie dropped her hand. “What forces!” She charged forward. “If you want my help, I need to know what I’m working against. Besides knowing the briefest history of this relic, you’ve given me nothing to go off of.”

Theo crossed the room giving her a wide berth. “There’s a reason for that.”

She threw out her hands. “Please! I’m all ears.”

“Go back to your room, Amalie.” Theo turned to the window.

“I will not.”

His form was black against the twilight beyond the glass as if drinking in the shadows from every corner of the room. Amalie felt like she was going to rip at the seams. She wished she was back on the rooftop because she would have no problem swinging the blade a second time.

She grabbed the glass from the table and hurled it at his head. He spun, snatching it out of the air. “You’ve decided to throw a tantrum?”

“You’re treating me like a child. May as well act like one.”

Theo’s grip on the glass was so tight, she thought it might shatter. “Fine. It seems I’ll have to throw you out.”

Amalie held her ground. “Don’t touch me.”

“Then leave.” His eyes were black, his lip curled.

And suddenly, Amalie wasn’t standing next to Theo’s writing desk. She was in a dark room made of stone. A torch hanging on the wall. She wore a white cloth that was wrapped around her torso and draping over her sandaled feet.

Theo stood in front of her wearing a leather breast plate with a cloak over his shoulders. “Life would be easier for you if you followed the rules.”

“I don’t like Alain’s rules.”

Theo laughed, sweeping his cloak over his arm. “Well, unfortunately for you, I’ve been tasked with enforcing them.”

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